Enrollment booms bypass TSU

School shifts focus to boosting its graduation and retention rates

Jul. 11, 2010

Jennifer Davis gives a tour of TSU's campus to a group of prospective students from Washington, D.C., on April 20. The university's enrollment has remained flat over the past 10 years. GEORGE WALKER IV / THE TENNESSEAN

Written by

Jaime Sarrio and Brad Schrade

THE TENNESSEAN

First of Two Parts

STUDENT ENROLLMENT

There were hundreds of them — bright-eyed high school students looking for an answer to one of the most important questions in their life: "Where should I go to college?"

They crammed into the Nashville Convention Center on a Sunday in April, lining up to speak to college recruiters from all over the country who were there to sell not just an education, but also an experience.

More than 130 college and universities stationed booths at the college fair. But Nashville's only public university, Tennessee State, was nowhere to be found. Administrators from the school said they didn't attend the fair because it's expensive and not always an effective recruitment tool. Critics say the university has missed several opportunities over the years to attract new students.

Nationwide, college enrollment has boomed during the past decade, and every four-year public school in Tennessee posted gains — except Tennessee State University.

Enrollment at the school has remained flat over the past 10 years, down from an all-time high of 9,100 students in 2004 to 8,800 students in 2009. Other schools, such as Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, have added thousands of students in the same period, increasing enrollment as much as 37 percent.

Several of the students interviewed at the fair said TSU wasn't their first choice.

Allyson Stephens, 16, a rising junior at East Literature High School, wants to be a pediatrician. But she's wary of TSU because of stories that the parties outweigh the academics.

"I don't want to go for the parties," she said. "That's not my major."

TSU's enrollment stall comes as colleges are becoming more reliant on tuition to offset state budget cuts. More than half of a college's revenue comes from tuition, according to the Tennessee Board of Regents.

Higher education enrollment has exploded nationally, driven by an increase in the number of college-age students — the children of baby boomers — and more nontraditional students heading back to the classroom, said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Affordable state schools like Austin Peay have benefited from the boom because they offer competitive instruction at reasonable prices. That school also has capitalized on the region's growth by building satellite campuses and designing attractive degree programs.

TSU hasn't met any of the enrollment goals laid out in its 2005-10 strategic plan because tuition increases, budget decreases, and more competition for well-prepared black students have affected the school's enrollment, school officials say.

Also contributing is a 35 percent drop in out-of-state students enrolling over the past decade. Fewer students can, or want to, pay the $17,342 in tuition and fees to attend Tennessee State for non-residents.

Out-of-state tuition at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville is $22,420. At Middle Tennessee State University, it's $17,916. Room, board, books and other expenses can drive costs even higher.

Complicating matters are impending changes to the state's funding formula for colleges. Soon schools will be rewarded for hitting performance goals — such as how many students graduate — instead of getting money largely for enrollment.

That means TSU has to get a handle on its declining graduation and retention rate, so it is stepping away from plans to grow its enrollment to 12,000 by 2015.

The school wants to improve its reputation by building stronger programs that attract high achievers. This fall, the school is partnering with alumni chapters across the country to attract prospective students and parents to campus through university-sponsored bus trips.

The university also set up a Facebook page and answers questions through it.

"A lot of that we weren't doing, quite frankly, in the past we didn't have to do," said Vice President of Student Affairs Michael Freeman. "Now, we have to show we want you here."